Phys.org: Optics & Photonics Newshttp://phys.org/physics-news/optics-photonics/
en-usPhys.org provides the latest news on Optics and Photonics http://cdn.phys.org/tmpl/v4/img/phys.org.140.pngPhys.orghttp://phys.org/
Black phosphorus is new 'wonder material' for improving optical communicationPhosphorus, a highly reactive element commonly found in match heads, tracer bullets, and fertilizers, can be turned into a stable crystalline form known as black phosphorus. In a new study, researchers from the University of Minnesota used an ultrathin black phosphorus film—only 20 layers of atoms—to demonstrate high-speed data communication on nanoscale optical circuits.http://phys.org/news344526429.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsMon, 02 Mar 2015 13:47:17 ESTnews344526429The first ever photograph of light as both a particle and wave(Phys.org)—Light behaves both as a particle and as a wave. Since the days of Einstein, scientists have been trying to directly observe both of these aspects of light at the same time. Now, scientists at EPFL have succeeded in capturing the first-ever snapshot of this dual behavior.http://phys.org/news344507180.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsMon, 02 Mar 2015 08:26:32 ESTnews344507180Precision gas sensor could fit on a chipUsing their expertise in silicon optics, Cornell engineers have miniaturized a light source in the elusive mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectrum, effectively squeezing the capabilities of a large, tabletop laser onto a 1-millimeter silicon chip.http://phys.org/news344247770.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsFri, 27 Feb 2015 08:23:07 ESTnews344247770Optical nanoantennas set the stage for a NEMS lab-on-a-chip revolutionNewly developed tiny antennas, likened to spotlights on the nanoscale, offer the potential to measure food safety, identify pollutants in the air and even quickly diagnose and treat cancer, according to the Australian scientists who created them. The new antennas are cubic in shape. They do a better job than previous spherical ones at directing an ultra-narrow beam of light where it is needed, with little or no loss due to heating and scattering, they say.http://phys.org/news343999384.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsTue, 24 Feb 2015 11:30:01 ESTnews343999384No need for color correction: Perfect colors, captured with one ultra-thin lensMost lenses are, by definition, curved. After all, they are named for their resemblance to lentils, and a glass lens made flat is just a window with no special powers. But a new type of lens created at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) turns conventional optics on its head.http://phys.org/news343580082.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsThu, 19 Feb 2015 14:54:56 ESTnews343580082Rapidly reconfigurable waveform generator on a CMOS chip could be used for high-speed wireless communication(Phys.org)—An arbitrary waveform generator can, as its name implies, generate waves of almost any shape by controlling the amplitude, frequency, phase, and other wave characteristics. Waveform generators working in the radio frequency (RF) regime have a wide variety of uses in electronics, including wireless communication, radar, high-speed testing, and anywhere complex signals are needed. Typically, waveform generators are about the size of a DVD player. However, future wireless applications will require waveform generation and processing on a silicon chip.http://phys.org/news343552657.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsThu, 19 Feb 2015 09:20:02 ESTnews343552657Igniting the air for atmospheric researchScientists from Vienna and Moscow have created a high-energy mid-infrared laser powerful enough to create shining filaments in the air. Such devices could be used to detect chemical substances in the atmosphere.http://phys.org/news343475711.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsWed, 18 Feb 2015 09:55:18 ESTnews343475711Three-dimensional opto-electric integrationThree-dimensional (3D) integration of various materials on top of bulk silicon could be the best answer for cost-effectively marrying optical devices with electronics. A*STAR researchers have used this approach to create a photodetector system for optical communications on a silicon chip.http://phys.org/news343473279.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsWed, 18 Feb 2015 09:50:01 ESTnews343473279Interaction between light and sound in nanoscale waveguideScientists from Ghent University and imec announce today that they demonstrated interaction between light and sound in a nanoscale area. Their findings elucidate the physics of light-matter coupling at these scales – and pave the way for enhanced signal processing on mass-producible silicon photonic chips.http://phys.org/news343375703.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsTue, 17 Feb 2015 06:08:36 ESTnews343375703Scientists making progress with techniques that allow for seeing through opaque materials(Phys.org)—It has been a desire, if not a dream for many throughout human history, to create a device that allows for seeing through walls (ala Superman), inside the human body or through a shield so that the enemy can be seen without risk. Surprisingly, over the past several years, scientists have begun to find ways to do such things—this week author/journalist Zeeya Merali offers a News Feature in the journal Nature outlining research in this area and where she feels it might be heading.http://phys.org/news343293471.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsMon, 16 Feb 2015 08:50:01 ESTnews343293471Silver-glass sandwich structure acts as inexpensive color filterThe engineering world just became even more colorful.http://phys.org/news343045502.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsFri, 13 Feb 2015 10:25:09 ESTnews343045502Nonlinear resonance disaster in the light of ultrashort pulsesUltrashort light pulses from modern lasers enable temporal resolution of even the fastest processes in molecules or solid-state materials. For example, chemical reactions can, in principle, be traced down to the 10-fs time scale (1 femtosecond (fs) = 10-15 s). Ten femtoseconds correspond to a few oscillation cycles of the light field itself. Nevertheless, there is a class of optical processes that does not exhibit any measurable delay relative to the ultrafast light oscillation and which has been termed "instantaneous". This class of processes includes nonlinear optical harmonic generation at multiple frequencies of the input field. This process is commonly used to generate the green light of laser pointers from invisible infrared light. These processes are normally used far away from a resonance to avoid losses.http://phys.org/news342862105.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsWed, 11 Feb 2015 08:30:01 ESTnews342862105Researchers develop new tissue autofluorescence endoscopic techniqueFluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) of tissue autofluorescence has been shown to provide labelfree contrast between different types and states of tissue. Clinical FLIM can combine lifetime contrast with morphological information to provide a direct comparison between different spatial regions – making it easier to spot differences with respect to "normal" tissue, e.g. for diagnostic screening and potentially enabling margins of diseased tissue to be identified. To date, however, there have been relatively few clinical FLIM studies, partly due to a lack of suitable instrumentation.http://phys.org/news342769784.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsTue, 10 Feb 2015 06:40:01 ESTnews342769784New design tool for metamaterials: Study shows how to predict nonlinear optical propertiesMetamaterials - artificial nanostructures engineered with electromagnetic properties not found in nature - offer tantalizing future prospects such as high resolution optical microscopes and superfast optical computers. To realize the vast potential of metamaterials, however, scientists will need to hone their understanding of the fundamental physics behind them. This will require accurately predicting nonlinear optical properties - meaning that interaction with light changes a material's properties, for example, light emerges from the material with a different frequency than when it entered. Help has arrived.http://phys.org/news342718747.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsMon, 09 Feb 2015 15:39:20 ESTnews342718747A centimeter of time: Cryogenic clocks pave the way to new measurementsWe all like to know our watches keep the time well, but Hidetoshi Katori, of RIKEN's Quantum Metrology Laboratory and the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Engineering, is taking precision to an entirely new dimension. In work published in Nature Photonics, Katori's group demonstrated two cryogenically cooled optical lattice clocks that can be synchronized to a tremendous one part in 2.0 x 10-18—meaning that they would only go out of synch by a second in 16 billion years. This is nearly 1,000 times more precise than the current international timekeeping standard cesium atomic clock.http://phys.org/news342699632.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsMon, 09 Feb 2015 11:00:07 ESTnews342699632Creating high-resolution full-color moving holograms in 3-DThree-dimensional (3D) movies, which require viewers to wear stereoscopic glasses, have become very popular in recent years. However, the 3D effect produced by the glasses cannot provide perfect depth cues. Furthermore, it is not possible to move one's head and observe that objects appear different from different angles—a real-life effect known as motion parallax. Now, A*STAR researchers have developed a new way of generating high-resolution, full-color, 3D videos that uses holographic technology.http://phys.org/news342257363.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsWed, 04 Feb 2015 07:40:01 ESTnews342257363Rediscovering spontaneous light emissionBerkeley Lab researchers have developed a nano-sized optical antenna that can greatly enhance the spontaneous emission of light from atoms, molecules and semiconductor quantum dots. This advance opens the door to light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that can replace lasers for short-range optical communications, including optical interconnects for microchips, plus a host of other potential applications.http://phys.org/news342200737.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsTue, 03 Feb 2015 15:45:44 ESTnews342200737Engineers use disorder to control light on a nanoscaleA breakthrough by a team of researchers from UCLA, Columbia University and other institutions could lead to the more precise transfer of information in computer chips, as well as new types of optical materials for light emission and lasers.http://phys.org/news342114746.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsMon, 02 Feb 2015 15:52:33 ESTnews342114746The first optically synchronised free-electron laserScientists at DESY have developed and implemented an optical synchronisation system for the soft X-ray free-electron laser FLASH, achieving facility-wide synchronisation with femtosecond precision. The performance of the system is expected to ultimately be at least ten times better than what has been achieved anywhere so far using electronic techniques. At this level of control, ultrafast experiments can be performed systematically with the highest temporal resolution, as the team led by Holger Schlarb and Sebastian Schulz from DESY's machine control and linear accelerator research groups and Adrian Cavalieri from the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter reports in the journal Nature Communications.http://phys.org/news341829857.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsFri, 30 Jan 2015 08:44:30 ESTnews341829857Generating Mobius strips of light: Researchers experimentally produce these structures from light polarizationA collaboration of researchers from Canada, Europe and the USA have experimentally produced Möbius strips from the polarization of light, confirming a theoretical prediction that it is possible for light's electromagnetic field to assume this peculiar shape.http://phys.org/news341767698.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsThu, 29 Jan 2015 15:28:27 ESTnews341767698International research project leads to a breakthrough in terahertz spectroscopyAlthough terahertz spectroscopy has great potential, especially for environmental monitoring and security screening applications, it previously could not be used effectively to study nanocrystals or molecules at extremely low concentrations. An international team led by Professor Luca Razzari at the INRS Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications Research Centre has found a solution to this problem by increasing the technique's sensitivity using metallic nanostructures, as explained in an article published in Nano Letters in January 2015.http://phys.org/news341669601.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsWed, 28 Jan 2015 12:13:28 ESTnews341669601Researchers use sound to slow down, speed up, and block lightHow do you make an optical fiber transmit light only one way? Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have experimentally demonstrated, for the first time, the phenomenon of Brillouin Scattering Induced Transparency (BSIT), which can be used to slow down, speed up, and block light in an optical waveguide. The BSIT phenomenon permits light to travel in the forward direction while light traveling in the backward direction is strongly absorbed. This non-reciprocal behavior is essential for building isolators and circulators that are indispensible tools in an optical designer's toolkit.http://phys.org/news341665512.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsWed, 28 Jan 2015 11:05:35 ESTnews341665512Experimental proof of an interferometric orbital angular momentum mode multiplexer/demultiplexerResearchers at PoliCom, Politecnico di Milano have presented the first experimental proof of an interferometric orbital angular momentum mode multiplexer/demultiplexer, exploiting a very compact configuration based on cylindrical lenses. 20-Gbit/s error-free transmission demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed energy-saving all-optical passive demultiplexing technique, which is very promising for increasing the capacity in short-range optical links for data communications, where the power consumption is a fundamental issue.http://phys.org/news341655499.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsWed, 28 Jan 2015 08:18:46 ESTnews341655499New technology makes creating ultrashort infrared laser pulses easy and cheapIn a marathon, everyone starts at roughly the same place at roughly the same time. But the faster runners will gradually increase their lead, and in the end, the distribution of runners on the street will be very broad. Something similar happens to a pulse of light sent through a medium. The pulse is a combination of different colours (or different wavelengths), and when they are sent through a medium like glass, they travel at slightly different speeds. This leads to a dispersion effect: the pulse becomes longer and longer.http://phys.org/news341583562.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsTue, 27 Jan 2015 12:19:31 ESTnews341583562Entanglement on a chip: Breakthrough promises secure communications and faster computersUnlike Bilbo's magic ring, which entangles human hearts, engineers have created a new micro-ring that entangles individual particles of light, an important first step in a whole host of new technologies.http://phys.org/news341471187.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsMon, 26 Jan 2015 09:00:04 ESTnews341471187First-of-its-kind tube laser created for on-chip optical communications(Phys.org)—Nanophotonics, which takes advantage of the much faster speed of light compared with electrons, could potentially lead to future optical computers that transmit large amounts of data at very high speeds. Working toward this goal, researchers in a new study have developed a tiny laser 100 micrometers long and 5 micrometers in diameter—right at the limit of what the unaided human eye can see. As the first rolled-up semiconductor tube laser that is electrically powered, it can fit on an optical chip and serve as the light source for future optical communications technology.http://phys.org/news341213139.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsFri, 23 Jan 2015 09:30:02 ESTnews341213139New method to generate arbitrary optical pulsesScientists from the University of Southampton have developed a new technique to generate more powerful, more energy efficient and low-cost pulsed lasers.http://phys.org/news341064974.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsWed, 21 Jan 2015 12:16:22 ESTnews341064974New signal amplification process set to transform communications, imaging, computingSignal amplification is ubiquitous to all electronic and optoelectronic systems for communications, imaging and computing - its characteristics directly impact device performance.http://phys.org/news340957645.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsTue, 20 Jan 2015 11:00:06 ESTnews340957645Scientists construct the first germanium-tin semiconductor laser for silicon chipsScientists from Forschungszentrum Jülich and the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland in cooperation with international partners have presented the first semiconductor consisting solely of elements of main group IV. As a consequence, the germanium-tin (GeSn) laser can be applied directly onto a silicon chip and thus creates a new basis for transmitting data on computer chips via light: this transfer is faster than is possible with copper wires and requires only a fraction of the energy. The results have been published in the journal Nature Photonics.http://phys.org/news340963356.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsTue, 20 Jan 2015 08:20:04 ESTnews340963356New laser could upgrade the images in tomorrow's technologyA new semiconductor laser developed at Yale has the potential to significantly improve the imaging quality of the next generation of high-tech microscopes, laser projectors, photolithography, holography, and biomedical imaging.http://phys.org/news340887448.html
Physics - Optics & PhotonicsMon, 19 Jan 2015 15:00:06 ESTnews340887448